


One Bad Day

by BBJ_3



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Batjokes, Emotional Manipulation, Jeremiah has a backup plan, M/M, Obsessive Jeremiah, One Bad Day, Oneshot, Pining, Poor Bruce, Possessive Behavior, Possessive Jeremiah, Stockholm Syndrome, jeremiah wants his best friend back
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-10
Updated: 2018-05-10
Packaged: 2019-05-04 16:44:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14597301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BBJ_3/pseuds/BBJ_3
Summary: The words sing round his head - 'one bad day.' Jerome had given Jeremiah his, and Jeremiah would be damned if he didn't drag Bruce down with him.





	One Bad Day

It was almost sad. The distance in the dark. Every moment away from Bruce stung. He had almost strayed from his plan in the bunker when Bruce stepped close and invited him out into the world, but a kiss wasn't what he wanted. Anyone could steal a kiss. No, Jeremiah wanted more. A single bad breath left him with a clearer purpose. The whole world would burn. Gotham then the next city and the next until he'd burned the whole place to smolders, and from the ash, Jeremiah would create Utopia. His own, of course.

With an army at his back, Jeremiah played Bruce. Piece by piece - he inched the beautiful, breathtakingly idealistic and self-sacrificing man toward the final epiphany. It was only fair. Bruce was his very best friend after all. And he could be so much more. Ambient energy, muses, Bruce - a world made better. Jerome might have known to break down civilization, but Jeremiah knew how best to put it back together. Bruce needed to be there. A counterweight - but he needed to be adjusted. He needed to want it - need it as bad as Jeremiah. They spiraled around each other like celestial bodies - a star and black hole caught in a binary orbit. For now, Bruce hid his light. Faked the weight less than his magnitude could be - but he needed to accept his full potential to truly orbit Jeremiah without being consumed. 

A risky set of movements, to be sure, but necessary. Jim, Alfred, Selina, Lucius - a short list. He didn't even have to kill them all. He would. But he didn't have to - Bruce had already had one bad day, and death didn't do it for him. No, Bruce needed to realize the truth. Realize how unreliable the world was. Jim couldn't be counted to act accordingly - even his betrayals had been rationalized, his failures pardoned, so he had to die. Alfred - a reminder of his lies. Selina - she proved the point in her absence when Bruce needed her most. Lucius - a joke. Jeremiah had spent weeks training Bruce to associate Jeremiah with intellectual stimulation, blunt honesty, and emotional codependency. Bruce folded so cleanly to all three. The four he kept closest lied to him - directly or by omission - often enough that honesty went the distance. Jeremiah's revelation, well, that couldn't be prevent, but he simply needed to prove it wasn't actually a lie at all. Prove Bruce should have known all along - that Jeremiah of the weeks following Jerome was the same as the Jeremiah destroying Gotham.

"Why are you doing this?" Bruce asked, and finally, he meant it the right way. 

Jeremiah smiled. "My reason is the same as the one which inspires your vigilantism." And Bruce didn't embarrass them by trying to deny his activities. "Someone needs to make the world a better place." Tilting his head, the red-head stepped closer. "We're going to do great things for Gotham - for the world, but first, we need to burn it all down."

"Then shoot me."

Pressing his lips together, Jeremiah clucked his tongue. "I don't want to kill you, Bruce."

"But you will if I interfere, and I can promise you, I will interfere."

"Hmm..." Jeremiah had predicted Bruce would be difficult to crack, but this was a puzzle far more complex than a single bad day could solve. Another approach, perhaps. "Okay."

Bruce's dark brows furrowed. "Okay?"

"I told you: 'I would hate to have to kill you,'" Jeremiah reminded him. "However, there are other ways to prevent your attempts to intervene. You've been the exception which proves the rule, but I hear Stockholm Syndrome is effective."

Before Bruce could act, the soldier in the rafters shot off a tranquilizer dart, but Bruce caught the little thing, twisting around with wide eyes as the rest attacked. It was a beautiful display of skill - Bruce taking out half a dozen men, and if Jeremiah had let them use their weapons to maim or kill Bruce, he wouldn't have gotten the show - despite the protective barriers Bruce wore. Kevlar only offered so much protection after all, and Bruce had left his face exposed in an attempt to emotional motivate Jeremiah. By the time Bruce was subdued, he'd taken out a neat baker's dozen. 

Breaking Bruce would take time, but one day, Bruce would submit and reach for Jeremiah instinctively. Friendship would bloom into companionship. Companionship into a romantic partnership to topple empires. For now, just having Bruce close would be enough.   

Jeremiah ran his fingers down Bruce's unconscious face. "You truly are my best friend." 

**Author's Note:**

> Done after sleep deprivation, so will edit later.
> 
> We need more jeremiah/Bruce videos to like: I Want You (Beatles), Ms. Murder (AFI), Touched (VAST) or Temptation (VAST), especially the last one which I highly recommend if you have not listened before.


End file.
